WHAT IS OPTIMISM'S MISSION?

A famous advertisement said "optimism is the scent of life", Optimism collective could be in the future one of the most significant realities of the Ethereum ecosystem.

BUT WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

Optimism is both a technological project, with a digital asset that allows the ecosystem to operate, and also a new organisational model (it is in fact a DAO) but above all it has an ambitious philosophy behind it.

LET'S START WITH THE TECHNOLOGY PROJECT

Optimism defines itself as a blockchain that is fast, stable, scalable and compatible with Ethereum; capable of simplifying and speeding up transactions, so much so that it is estimated to have optimised the costs of using the Ethereum network for a value (declared by themselves but not contested) of over 3 billion dollars.

With the support of one of the market's historic giants COINBASE, the Foundation launched its own framework and an interoperable blockchain project Superchain enabling the development of further so-called L2 blockchains L2.

Layer 2 is a network or channel that sits on top of a layer 1 (L1) network such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. L2s are designed to increase the speed and reduce the cost of executing transactions on a blockchain.

In the Optimism ecosystem, there are also several Dapps that can be consulted at this link, testifying to an attentive and participative community.

However, it must be said that, despite being among the top 100 in the market, the aforementioned would not attract so much attention if it had not declared and demonstrated a particular care for its own philosophy, inspired by principles of transparency in decision-making, the involvement of all participants, both by informing and educating them to strengthen the community, but also by listening to them and involving them in decisions.

A strong community but also an openness to better organisations and technologies. 

All this summarised in ten commandments Click here  

WHAT IS RETROACTIVE PUBLIC GOODS FUNDING?

But the icing on the cake and also a distinguishing ambition of this project is called "Retroactive public goods funding".

The project originates from the realisation that an open and available ecosystem (essentially software, in our case) not only helps the community, but also the economic players in the system, so a reward for contributions is deemed justified.

From the very beginning, in the White Paper, 20% of the token supply was reserved for the support of public projects, both in relation to tools and infrastructure, as well as education regarding blockchain OP; subsequently, rewards were linked to the economic counter-value of the ecosystem.

The first distribution or Retroactive Public Goods Funding (Retro PGF) took place in 2021; 58 projects have been funded, while the second one is ongoing and the final outcomes are not yet known, but it is already known that 195 projects have been accepted. 
The selection mechanism involves the digital citizens of the ecosystem and provides for public and predetermined governance rules.

An interesting broad use of technology, business models, ecosystem engagement and improvement strategies ... but would it only work in Web 3.0?

Probably not.

Think of paid parking spaces in a big city where 20 per cent of the revenue is allocated to social projects decided by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood where the parking space is located, all transparent, all verifiable and all automatic, like saying that technology rhymes with utopia.